The First Year Of The Rest Of Our Lives

Chapter 2: Rose

Rose sat in the back of her history class, bored to tears. Ms Martzen was droning on about handing in your work on time, when her phone vibrated in her pocket. It was Violet

-Guess who met a boy?

-You met like three boys this morning, Vi.

-Ha ha. I'm serious.

-You've been at this school for less than a day and you've already found yourself a potential boyfriend? really?

-Guess I'm just irresistible.

-I know you can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes

-Don't judge me. Otherwise, I'll judge you on your lack of a bf.

Rose sighed. She hadn't even told her twin. Sometimes she was jealous of Violet. She had come out as bisexual last year, just walked into the kitchen one day and declared it. Rose wished she had that kind of confidence. The truth was, she didn't want a boyfriend.  Ever. She had known that she was gay for the past few years. She knew her family and friends were accepting, because they had accepted her twin. But for some reason, she just couldn't come out. She didn't know why, she just couldn't.

-Whatever. Slut

-Prude

The insults were a running joke. In the 8th grade, they had gotten into an argument. Rose had caught Violet sneaking out of the house to go visit her first boyfriend at a party. They started whisper-yelling at each other, escalating in Rose calling Violet a slut, Violet calling Rose a prude and both of them bursting out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

-Seriously tho, that Caleb guy? Fucking cute man. 

-I guess?

-You guess?

-Not my type. Too tall

-Whatever. He was totally hitting on me in English class

-Congrats. When you fuck him, don't do it on my bed

-He's my partner for our English project, so expect me locking you out of our room for a while ;)

-Please don't have sex on my bed.

"Miss Giordano? Did you not hear what I said about phones in class?" barked Ms Martzen.

"Shit" Rose mumbled under her breath. "Sorry Ms Martzen. I'll put it away." She apologized, going to tuck her phone in her bag.

"Actually, you'll walk up here and put that phone on my desk." Her cheeks beet-red, Rose walked up to the front of the class, ducking her head to avoid eye contact with anyone. She put the phone down. "Thank you. You may collect this at the end of class." Rose nodded, and walked back to her desk. Slumping down, she stared into space until the bell woke her from her daydream. Grabbing her purse, she walked over to Ms Marzten's desk and grabbed her phone.  Checking it, she noticed a text from Violet

-No promises ;)

-JK. We'll just fuck on my bed

Laughing, Rose walked out the door and towards her locker, when she heard a voice behind her.

"Hey!" called Teresa, the beautiful redhead from her English class. "Rose, right?" she asked when she caught up to Rose.

"Yeah. Teresa?" she asked, doing her best to keep her voice steady around the very attractive girl.

"Yup. You going to lunch?" she asked, pushing a lock of hair out of her face. Rose wished she was the one to push that lock of hair. As much as she made fun of Violet, Rose had also fallen for someone very quickly. During English, she had watched Teresa get in a debate with Will over the subtext in Twelfth Night, defending her point that Olivia was still in love with Viola, even when she found out she was a woman, and that Viola loved Olivia.  By the time she pointed out the obvious chemistry between the two, during the scene where Viola is supposed to be convincing Olivia to fall in love with her boss, Rose was head over heels for this girl.

"Yeah. Just gotta find my sister." 

"Cool. You two should come sit with us. Your sister made quite the impression on Will in welding class."

"Oh God. Don't tell me he's in love with her too." said Rose, rolling her eyes. 

"In love with her too? Who else is in love with Violet?" asked Teresa curiously. They stopped at Rose's locker, and she started fiddling with her lock.

"That Caleb guy. She thinks he was hitting on her in their English class. Probably was. No straight boy can resist Violet."

"That's cute. " said Teresa. "I've known Caleb for a while. Most of the girls he dates are bitches. Violet seems sweet. It would be good for him to date someone sweet. Anyway, Will's not in love with her. He's in awe of her. I think he wants to be her best friend."

"Why, what did she do that was so awe inspiring?" asked Rose, grabbing her lunch bag and shutting her locker.

"I don't know. He wouldn't say. He just kept texting me stuff like 'That Violet chick is freakin hilarious.' You'll have to ask him at lunch." Teresa said as they walked down the stairs to the first floor. They walked into the cafeteria to find the group sitting at a table in the back corner, looking at Cassie, who was telling a story.

"So then Sid, who is drunk off his ass, comes over to me, and is all 'Hey, have you seen my girlfriend?' and I said "Sid, you don't have a girlfriend.' and then he said "Oh. that's sad', sat down on the couch and fell asleep. It was the funniest thing ever. Granted, I was high, but still. Hilarious."

"Hey guys." said Hazel, as Teresa and Rose sat down.

"Hi. What'd I miss?" asked Teresa, sitting down beside Cassie. Rose sat down in between Teresa and Evan.

"Cassie was just telling us what we missed at Justin's party last night." said Will, munching on some chips.

"It was a surprisingly good party." said Cassie. "He may be an ass, but the man gets some quality shit." Beatrice looks confused, and Caleb mimes smoking a joint. Everyone laughs, and Beatrice nods, mouthing "got it"

"So, we've gotten to know the lovely Violet." said Will. "What about you, Rose? Tell us about you?"

"Um... What do you want to know?" Rose asked, biting into an apple.

"Your hope, your dreams, your darkest secrets." said Will. Rose couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or just an idiot. Hazel smacked Will in the back of the head "Ow." he muttered.

"Sorry about him. He's an idiot. Let's start easy. Favourite colour?" Hazel said, looking back at Rose with a friendly smile.

"Purple." said Rose.

"See? Now you know her." said Hazel to Will. She turned back to Rose. "Sorry about this moron. He likes to put people on the spot."

"That's fine". Rose looked over, to see her sister happily chatting with the tall boy from before. She was teaching him the alphabet in sign language, and giggling as he messed up the signs.

"I think he likes her." said Evan quietly. Rose turned to look at him.

"You don't say." she said. Evan laughed. "I know she likes him. She was texting me about how she thought he was cute." 

"What's his name?" asked Rose.

"Caleb." Evan replied. 

"I kinda feel bad for Caleb." said Rose, looking  over at them.

"Why? Is your sister a bitch?" Evan asked.

"On the contrary. She's a sweetheart. Problem is, she's terrible at relationships. Boys and girls flock to her, and she's great with people, but she's so sociable, her significant others feel left behind, and they break up. Happens every time." said Rose, taking another bite of her apple. "Poor guy's gonna get his heart broken."

"You know, I've known Caleb since we were kids. Know everything about him. And I can tell you, the man has the worst taste in women. His last girlfriend was a girl named Kaitlyn Montgomery. Huge bitch. Slept with half the guys in school while she was dating him. And when he found out, he didn't dump her. She dumped him for some college guy. The guy's a cliche when it comes to girls, pure and simple. "

"Two people who are shit at relationships. Maybe they were made for each other..." said Rose

"Or maybe this will end in a huge shit storm." said Evan.